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Rating: 
Summary: French A Bit Rusty?
Review: I hadn't taken French since high school (over 20 years ago!) and needed to brush-up quickly for a New Year's trip to Paris. After discovering French 3 (4 audio cassettes included) at the local library, I was so happy with it that I decided to buy it. Incorporating helpful and natural dialogues for the traveler, idomatic usage, verb conjugation and grammar, this book will get you there in a hurry!
Rating: 
Summary: Not an absolute turkey. Could be LOTS better!!!
Review: This course in Advanced Conversation consists of 4 cassettes. It comes with a 343 page book! This is a continuation of Living Language FRENCH 2. While French 2 covered ALL THE GRAMMAR you need to know, this course is mainly a set of dialogues. The idea is to improve your listening skills. Naturally, the book has all the spoken text with translation. It also has some grammar drills you should have done back in French 2. There are also verb conjugation charts. The dialogues themselves are pretty good. They follow the adventures of an American and his wife in Paris. But for some bizarre reason, each dialogue is followed by a fairly long yet "random" grammar review. (Random in that the subject of the "lesson" is never announced. I never could figure any of them out!!!) How much better it would have been to replace that nonsense with a straight-forward vocabulary preview before each dialogue. That would have greatly reduced the student's need to wade through the 343 page book. By the way, the tapes are not stereo. They sound best on a simple, mono cassette player. All in all, a mediocre value for the money.
Rating:
Summary: Not an absolute turkey; Could be LOTS BETTER!!!
Review: This product continues FRENCH 2. Wheras FRENCH 2 teaches "all the grammar you need to know", French 3 concentrates on understanding spoken dialog. The dialogues themselves are pretty good. They follow the story of an American couple in Paris. The idea, of course, is to expose the student to vocabulary oriented to the various situations he might encounter in France. First the dialogues go at normal speed (actually pretty slow at that!), and then they are repeated slower. The accompanying book is a whopping 343 pages long. What's wrong with this product is that the tapes inexplicably contain a "grammar lesson" after each dialogue. This "lesson" takes a substantial amount of listening time. And yet it is not a lesson in any conventional sense: the student is supposed to repeat random, disjointed sentences without knowing exactly why. There is no formal explanation of what the "lesson" is about. (The book makes a feeble remark about these sentences also occuring in the written exercises.) How much better it would have been to use the space on the tape for a vocabulary preview BEFORE each dialogue! The book itself has the dialog texts. They are accompanied by interesting notes. There are also some verb charts and written exercises. The tapes are not stereo, although they sound good on a simple, mono cassette player.
Rating:
Summary: Not an absolute turkey; Could be LOTS BETTER!!!
Review: This product continues FRENCH 2. Wheras FRENCH 2 teaches "all the grammar you need to know", French 3 concentrates on understanding spoken dialog. The dialogues themselves are pretty good. They follow the story of an American couple in Paris. The idea, of course, is to expose the student to vocabulary oriented to the various situations he might encounter in France. First the dialogues go at normal speed (actually pretty slow at that!), and then they are repeated slower. The accompanying book is a whopping 343 pages long. What's wrong with this product is that the tapes inexplicably contain a "grammar lesson" after each dialogue. This "lesson" takes a substantial amount of listening time. And yet it is not a lesson in any conventional sense: the student is supposed to repeat random, disjointed sentences without knowing exactly why. There is no formal explanation of what the "lesson" is about. (The book makes a feeble remark about these sentences also occuring in the written exercises.) How much better it would have been to use the space on the tape for a vocabulary preview BEFORE each dialogue! The book itself has the dialog texts. They are accompanied by interesting notes. There are also some verb charts and written exercises. The tapes are not stereo, although they sound good on a simple, mono cassette player.
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